The first blow came January 12th. “We had a driver on his way back from Grand Rapids with a large truck full of material for us. [He] was involved in a car accident; was killed in that.” On that day, massive fog blanketed the highway where 27-year old Jason Eldridge, of Owosso, was driving. The blinding fog is being blamed for a 200-vehicle, chain-reaction accident.

In the days since then, Palmerton says Elridge’s widow and other family members have gotten active with the ministry. Their strength buoyed the staff.

Then came another strike. “Our director, Harry Palmer, has just been under the gun and facing migraine headaches and stress to the point where he had to give up the position.” The loss of leadership might shake up other teams, but Palmerton says instead of being discouraged, their staff has redoubled efforts.

He describes the three points of attack in this kingdom-building work. “We are looking to send more containers overseas. We have pastoral libraries at our disposal that we are going to start sponsoring and sending overseas to national pastors. And we have materials that answer requests from overseas–new Christians.”

If you’d like to help in the effort to send important ministry resources to pastors overseas, call CRI at (517) 223-3193 or go to their website, www.cribooks.org.